A singer-songwriter turned digital entrepreneur has launched an online business that gives fans the power to fund new material from their favourite artists.

Juliana Meyer has created SupaPass – an online store and media player providing unique downloads, streamed audio and behind the scenes videos from a catalogue of musicians.

The start-up aims to challenge market leaders iTunes, Amazon and Spotify with its new business model, which makes artists produce a new track each month in return for fan subscription fees.

The concept, created by Miss Meyer and co-founder Mike Diplock, has seen 100 artists sign up to the site – including a host of local bands.

And she aims to attract an outsider investor in the coming months so she can grow the company and take on six new members of staff.

It comes after the company was nominated as the most-promising UK start-up in the entertainment field for 2013 at the MIDEM business event in France.

Miss Meyer, 30, from Costessey, refused to say how much of her own money she had put into the venture, but said her ambition was to sign up 200 artists within the next year.

She said: 'I have been an independent musician for 15 years and really believe that artists can do a lot to boost their own careers.

'I was writing all this music and have a great fan base, but because I was spending all my money time promoting I wasn't able to bring my music to my fans – and SupaPass seemed like a solution.

'It is a way for artists to earn income from tracks and videos they are currently putting out there for free.

'It is aimed at every level of musician whether they are signed to a major label or not.'

Fans can sign up to SupaPass for £1 a month, with a third of all revenue going to the SupaPass business, and the rest going to the artists. She added: 'The reason I would subscribe to SupaPass rather than going on iTunes is because it can help the artist make more music.'